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JOHANNESBURG – One of America’s most infamous fraudsters says it has become easier to fake bank cheques and more sophisticated protection against online fraud is needed now more than ever.

Frank Abagnale made $2.5 million by faking identities which included an airline pilot in the 1960s.

His story was eventually turned into the movie Catch me if you canstarring Leonardo de Caprio.

Abagnale now has his own consultancy firm and is in South Africa to take part in a fraud prevention conference.

“Forty years ago for me to print a cheque I needed a Heidelberg printing press or colour separation negatives, plate’s type setting. Today one just opens a laptop, goes to a company website, capture a logo, and put it on the cheque. Gets the mercer line on the cheque and then 5 minutes you have a beautiful cheque. Technology breeds crime.”